The fact that the DLC explicitly makes fun of its own poor casting in the very last part is quite fitting for a game that has such poor voice acting. Does it count as self-irony or is it a cheap way to rationalize and justify the lack of quality? I guess both.

In general, 'Unheard' revolves around listening to people's conversations in person or on the phone and find out who is who and whodunnit. Self-referential plots and brain twisting scenarios abound.

Recommended, with caveats, for surveillance enthusiasts.

The game tells of a town on the edge of the steppe where a sickness takes hold and reason falters. Its people cling to rites and old faiths, they barter and gossip. The plague moves, and it moves fast. There is no hero’s work to be done here - only the long endurance of some puppet who knows, or should know at least, that survival is hard and the road is long. Time passes more quickly with each remaining day.

You play a surgeon returned from exile, a man bound by debt and bound by blood. Your hands can heal but never enough. Every decision costs something dear. To help one soul is to abandon another. Food runs out. Sleep is rare and shallow. Even the smallest kindness bears a shadow. Overall, the game’s stat systems (thirst, hunger, stamina...) are cruel but fair, as nature is 'fair'.

They do not mock you.
They only ask that you understand.

The writing is plain and deliberate, carrying a sort of mythic sorrow. Existential grief, you could call it. There are no revelations, only recognitions. Many a conversation reveals and thus, reopens wounds. Yet there is life in the town, in its superstition and in its hunger, and in the faces of those who still expect mercy. You come to know them, and when they die you carry their absence like a stone in your pocket. And as it gets heavier, you take every chance you can get to forget about your own burden, your own heavy heart, still beating in spite of everything.

What the game achieves is not pleasure but gravity. It reminds you that survival is a moral act, that knowledge cannot save anyone, and that faith is a thing both poisoned and necessary.

When it ends, there is no triumph, only the stillness of a place that outlasts its inhabitants. You put it down changed, and not entirely for the better.

Nichts für Zartbesaitete.

Elegant puzzles, clean design, zero hand-holding. Kinda like zazen but instead of staring at a white wall you catch yourself staring at two dots for ten minutes questioning your life choices.

Looks relaxing. Isn’t.
It’s like someone gift-wrapped a logic bomb in pastel colors.

Gotta admit now my brain hurts... but in a polite way.

Rubik’s Cube met a mountain and said “let’s roll.” Genius mechanics, oddly soothing, it is basically a love letter to triangles and suffering.

Hundreds of times KENNY SUN shouts his name in all caps like he’s claiming another piece of my sanity. The pyramid scheme isn’t just in the gameplay — it’s in the branding recursion too.

SOMA made me realize that identity isn’t a fixed thing — it’s more like a reflection on moving water.

Who Am I? Now that's the big question. I play as Simon. Where Am I? In an underwater research facility that's basically Rapture's depressed cousin. How did I get here? Or was I always here? Am I dreaming? Over time perceptions, values, and limitations change. And this self-awareness about my limitations could be seen as performative in its own way. It's turtles all the way down. One moment I was pretty certain of who I was, the next I was debating morality with a machine, feeling genuine guilt for unplugging ... a thing?... that couldn’t even hear me.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3536757850

The game’s beauty is in how it never tells you if you’re right, only asks if you can live with your answers. It reveals your presuppositions about what it means to be a sentient life form; is it a physical body, is it a (human) face, is it (self-)awareness/consciousness?

And so, beneath all the horror and the darkness and the ocean’s weight, there’s a subdued conversation going on about what it means to be alive, to think, to remember, to be 'real'. The environments are haunting not only because they’re abandoned, crusted with crushed shells and remains of tragic accidents, but because they feel like they’re waiting for you to answer something you don’t yet understand.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3536757810

I would like to continue this game but I find it quite hard - even on Discord - to find play buddies. Like the other parts, it's a great co-op experience solving puzzles and running around in dungeon maze with walkie talkie.

This is okay to play, and then go on. FPS with mediocre plot at the beginning, slightly picks up towards the end. To cut a long story short: If you read Glukhovsky's 1600-page novel about the background and narrative elements you get quite an immersive experience. I am not sure tbh if I am up for that. Somehow I am glad it's over.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3483848392



https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3483848078

[UPDATE]
I got into completionist mode and got all the achievements. Actually, quite a cool time I had! Metro 2033 Redux, gotta say, it grew on me. Characters and story, too!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3483848800


◽ Narrative driven, relatively simple FPS
◽ Beginning of a trilogy based on Russian novel
◽ Shoot people and monsters or play it stealth mode
◽ Two alternative endings (War/Peace)

:BUY IN A BUNDLE ON SALE:

systemspeck
i5-7200 CPU@2.5GHz | 16GB RAM | NVIDIA GeForce1050

At birth, we discover ourselves in the world, then live out our lives year by year as we age, experiencing many of the joys and pains of a human existence, and finally arrive at death, that point of either cessation or transition of consciousness that comes to us all. Feel welcome to partake in a recurrent cosmic symphony orchestra with countless musicians in which you experience yourself as one of thousands in the third clarinet section. As an individual player, or ego, you contribute an infinitesimal part to the magnificence of the music if you play your best. But it is abundantly clear that, no matter how you play, you do not have the power to detract from the beauty of the symphony as a whole.



Prepare to make difficult decisions. And prepare to die more than once. Prepare to be confronted with stern judgments. Of course, there is no way you can prepare for that. This is the allure of this exceptional text-based adventure game in which you control the steps you take, and yet exert little to no control over the final outcome. As IRL, better not expect your efforts to pay off.

The game-play is similar to titles like Pentiment insofar as you go through stages of life and have to deal with family, royalty etc. Also, it feels a bit like Suzerain because it is a bit about diplomacy and power and politics as well and the text-based book structure layout accompanied with ad-hoc scenes and sketched images of in-game characters.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3469571217



I have read some people criticizing the fact that the game seems unfair or particularly unjust due to the grayed out options throughout the story. While I can certainly relate to their sentiments, I'd venture forth to inquire: 'What did you expect, really?'

Obviously, it is impossible to do everything in a single play-through. This game is intended to be played more than once. FTW. I mean, come on, you get more than one story but three or four for the price of one game. Of course you are going to play your favourite tracks once you have heard the rather monotonous in-game sound carpet ad nauseam.

Just like in RL there is no right or wrong. At least in The Life and Suffering... you can tell beforehand which consequences your decisions will bear short-term (if you wish, turn on that option). Completionists will have a tough nut to crack here and/or will need a long time to gather all 89 achievements, that's for sure.



In settings, you will find the option to show/hide consequences. Let me tell you about my experience about that option. At times, I noticed how I started calculating personality trait points (esp. willpower) and basing my final decision on what would seemingly serve me the most in the near future. Definitely a way to play this game, I suppose, and I am grateful for this option to be able to anticipate the immediate outcome of a given decision. Having said that, I think it is best practice to play without having a clue about consequences of your actions/omissions at least once - preferably the first play-through - in order to skip the calculative side and play intuitively.

Whatever you choose, whichever path Sir Brante will take, remember there will be consequences. Petty moralizing and ideological babble aside, you can attempt to be 'good' or 'righteous' or 'lofty' or 'ambitious' etc. In the end, you can always follow this: Ama et fac quod vis.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3476030351



What do I mean by this? Simple. All decisions have consequences. Sometimes they are easy to anticipate. Sometimes they are unintended, unpredictable, hard to fathom, surprising. And, of course, certain options cancel each other out, e.g. it is hard to attain high nobility and have good relations with your lowborn sister, or to impress your traditionalist grandfather while becoming a spiritually adept clergyman talking to the gargantuan silver tree. As always, YMMV.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3476030394


Plot
Set in the 12th century in the Arknian Empire, lands of lore and magic, witches and trials, inquisition and church schism, there are three Lots: noblemen, clergy, and commoners. IMHO, this game depicts quite well how different strata of society (aristocracy, bourgeoisie, priesthood, peasants) fought over influence and power; how rich industrialists, wealthy traders, merchants etc. gained influence and status because of financial and social capital. A single Commoner/Nobleman/Inquisitor named Sir Brante - how much can he hope to change in the grand scheme of history?

Music
subdued, minimal, calm, classical, instrumental, fatalistic, (melo)dramatic, pensive, setting the tone.

Sound effects
discrete, subtle, and effective.

Gameplay
simple and straightforward.

Options
manifold and hard

Replay Value
Oh YES! This game has to be played several times

Some events are truly hard to stomach, e.g. when you learn at age 13 that your beloved mother has been raped and subsequently blamed to become pregnant with Gloria (of all names... Gloria! How cynical!) and abandoned, left alone without a home with a baby girl. This is not a singular case; instead, one comes across several incidents pointing out the fact that common, i.e. low-born women in 12C Arknian Empire were not much more for so-called 'nobles' than wenches, mere toys to play with... quite sad, and infuriating, to say the least. Don't even get me started on the self-righteous accusations of the so-called holy order of the inquisition - which i successfully sabotaged in my first play-through as a rebel priest until total collapse of this utterly delusional institution. Yes Sir.

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systemspeck
i5-7200 CPU@2.5GHz | 16GB RAM | NVIDIA GeForce1050
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Clearly one of my favorite games, if not GOAT! (oh wait, that's Outer Wilds). Visually captivating and infused with humorous dialogue, the plot revolves around a 10-year old psychonaut named Razputin Aquato. NPCs you meet in the game are likable, even villains painted in a sympathetic fashion. Your aim as a psychonaut is to enter the minds of people and find out what's going on.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3457502941


You will encounter and fight enemies like sticky regrets, obtrusive censors, righteous judges, and the like. All the while jump'n'run glide surf sneak levitate walk dance if you feel like. Along the journey you will discover a deeper story related to the Aquato family and the former head of the psychonaut movement, Agent Ford Cruller.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3467732771


Several reasons. First and foremost, the humour of it. Serious mental and emotional issues are dealt with in this game, and it manages to deal with them in a straightforward yet gentle manner, always keeping it light with a wink and a smile.

The combat system is appropriate and well thought out - it is neither too difficult nor too simple. Meaning, even if there are end bosses to be overcome they are in fact inner protection mechanisms, resistance personified and thus, not evil really, just temporarily confused, playing their part in the symphony of the miiiiiind.

Come to speak of symphony, the soundtrack is excellent. It perfectly fits the scenery and underscores the momentary level, be it trance-like, playful or dangerous. There is a single instance when the background music gets weird & obnoxious (Grulovia! Grulovia!!). This is intentional - it is possible to turn it off - and there is even an achievement ready for doing so.

Gameplay overall is easy to learn and reminded me a bit of Alice: Madness Returns, for those who know this title or would like to get some similar psychedelic game going.

Game design makes this 3D adventure platformer quite the experience. Especially some levels like 'PSI King Sensorium' stand out as a unique experience by itself.

There are many collectibles in this game, some of which help you rank up, some of which enable you to upgrade special abilities like telekineses, clairvoyance, projection etc. and some of which are called figments and nuggets of wisdom - sometimes these are quite hard to find and pose a platforming challenge in itself.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3467547037

Best for you is to to dive in and have fun. This game is definitely worth full price. Chance to buy on sale - go for it! It is astounding how many people have worked on this trippy adventure platformer for about six years (!) and it is absolutely worth your time.


✨ Funny dialogues, likable characters
✨ Gameplay and combat well polished
✨ Great soundtrack and funky graphics

systemspeck
i5-7200 CPU@2.5GHz | 16GB RAM | NVIDIA GeForce1050